Indian Low-Cost Airline IndiGo Wants to Expand Into Long-Haul Flights

Anurag Kotoky, Bloomberg

- Mar 08, 2018 7:30 pm

Skift Take

Indian airlines have long been underrepresented on long-haul routes, permitting Emirates Airline, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways to become defacto national carriers. It’s nice to see a strong Indian airline adding widebody jets.

— Brian Sumers

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IndiGo, India’s biggest airline, plans to order as many as 50 Airbus SE A330 wide-body jets as it seeks to expand beyond short-haul flights, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The carrier aims to take the upgraded A330neo version of the plane, according the people, who asked not to be named as the discussions aren’t public. The deal would be worth $13 billion at list prices for the smaller of two variants, though some of the aircraft are likely to options to be confirmed later.

IndiGo is developing plans for long-haul flights after building up a fleet of more than 150 Airbus A320 narrow-body planes used within the region. The carrier, based near New Delhi, looked at the Boeing Co. 787 and Airbus’s larger A350 before settling on the A330neo, a re-engined model developed from an older design, the people said. Quick delivery times and the ease of retraining A320 pilots for the jet were a factor in the decision, one person said.

An order announcement from IndiGo could come as early as June, one of the people said. Representatives of the carrier didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment outside regular business hours. A spokesman for Airbus said that the Toulouse, France-based planemaker is in regular contact with all of its customers, while declining to comment further.

IndiGo, a brand of InterGlobe Aviation Ltd., has show interest in unprofitable national carrier Air India Ltd., though the budget specialist has said it intends to commence low-cost, long-distance flights with or without a takeover. The carrier still has about 400 more A320neos to come.